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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399344">Lotus in the Snow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica'>Elexica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Central Park, M/M, Museums, Yami Yuugi | Atem Has His Own Body, Zoo, kcwintercup2020, ygocollablove</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:00:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399344</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaiba and Atem go on a walk through a snowy central park, and find more than they expect.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Atem/Kaiba Seto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>KC Winter Cup 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lotus in the Snow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordsAndSongs/gifts">SwordsAndSongs</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the lovely Squiddish!  Happy holidays-- I hope you enjoy this! &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Atem was a valuable asset to bring along on business trips.  If Seto was a weaker man, he would have given up the charade and just called Atem his boyfriend, but Seto was not so sentimental.</p><p>Atem was merely… a companion.  An aide.  A… well, not a boyfriend.</p><p>Despite the years Atem’s soul had existed, he hadn’t seen much of the world.  He’d been trapped in his palace in Egypt or stuck, for the most part, in Domino City when sharing a body with Yugi.  Everywhere in New York City was fascinating to the shorter man, who stopped along every single sign and shop on Broadway to take in each gorgeous display.</p><p>“What, they didn’t have <em>ribbons</em> in ancient Egypt?” Kaiba scoffed, trying to drag his pointy-haired partner from the ornate window dressings.</p><p>“We can’t all be so jaded, Kaiba.  Some of us are pretty happy to finally be among the living,” Atem took a deep breath of the cold winter air, as if savoring the chilly sting within his lungs.</p><p>Kaiba shrugged.  “I’m not jaded… it’s just, if you’re going to spend a holiday weekend in New York, you should see Central Park.”</p><p>Atem offered a challenging smile to Kaiba.  “You’ve really thought about this, huh?”</p><p>Kaiba scowled and looked ahead, picking up his pace in his black peacoat.  His long strides were designed to make it that much harder to the Pharaoh to keep up.  Despite the height difference, Atem kept up with the punishing pace.  As always, he was not to be underestimated.</p><p>The pair pushed through the New York City crowds, everyone streaming passed them with the same harsh speed and determination.  Atem barely had time to register the decorations as they hurried forwards.  Still, he announced to Seto that he had caught a building draped in twinkle light icicles here and some mannequins draped in gems there.</p><p>Finally, they had eyes on the park.  It was heavily forested.  From the crosswalk at Columbus circle where they waited while taxis, limos, junkers, and all the other hints at the population of New York cruised pass, Atem finally got the chance to catch his breath properly.  Kaiba looked down at him with a clinical expression, and for a second Atem’s face contorted with mild concern, as if he thought maybe Kaiba didn’t know what he was doing and was gong to get them lost.   </p><p>A look of unwavering faith returned to Atem’s eyes.  Kaiba wondered if, for a moment, Atem was seeing Priest Set within the tall man.</p><p>The moment was broken, like ice cracking beneath their feet, when the crosswalk signal flipped and they proceeded to one of the entrances to the park.</p><p>Atem had seen winter in Domino, but it was clear from the way that his jaw dropped that it was nothing like the wintry landscape ahead of him.  The leaf barren trees were burdened by piles of fluffy white snowflakes, outlining them in glitter.  One of the park's many ponds was iced over, and kids were experimentally skating on the edges.  Some coniferous trees remained, branches heavy with snowfall.  A large rock ahead of them was stacked with fresh powder.</p><p>Kaiba tugged at Atem’s arm to get him to move from where he was frozen in place.  With a devious flash in his eyes, Atem took the opportunity to loop his arm around Kaiba’s—Atem’s puffy jacket squishing against Kaiba’s wool coat.</p><p>Kaiba’s plan was quickly revealed once they arrived at the Central Park Zoo.  Although Atem had seen many interesting things in his time with Yugi, they hadn’t had the opportunity to see the zoo.  The grizzly bear looked very much like he would prefer to be hibernating, but instead he was snacking away and then playing with some of the enrichment items. </p><p>After a quick pass to look at the macaroni penguins and the ruffed lemur, they circled back toward the entrance. </p><p>Kaiba was silent as he guided Atem through the exhibits.  Atem looked at him expectantly a few times, waiting for some explanation of what they were looking at, but Kaiba’s expression was distant.</p><p>Peaceful, but distant.  </p><p>As they exited the zoo, Atem released Kaiba’s arm.  “Did you have fun?” He asked the taller man, a genuine look of confusion playing over his handsome features.</p><p>“Yes… I just realized that it has been a very long time since I went to the zoo.”  Kaiba smiled a little at Atem, as a gift.  And Atem reciprocated warmly, grabbing the taller man’s arm once again as they continued to stroll through the park.</p><p>“There’s one more place I think you should see,” Kaiba announced, guiding them through the meandering paths of the huge park.</p><p>They stopped in front of the huge, ornate columns of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Atem disentangled his arm as Kaiba quickly set to scaling the many steps.</p><p>“Another museum?  Haven’t wee seen enough museums together?” Atem shouted.  With Kaiba taking the stairs three at a time with his unfairly long legs, it was taking all of the shorter man’s focus to keep up.</p><p>“You will find this one interesting.” Kaiba said in return, over his shoulder. </p><p>Entering the building, the warm air smacked them in the face.  Kaiba only then realized he had somewhat lost feeling in his nose, and Atem did a full body shake of joy to be back in the warmth.</p><p>Tickets were quickly acquired, and Kaiba pointed in the direction labeled “Ancient Egypt”.</p><p>Atem was about to say something, maybe joke about the collection, or maybe to laugh that he knew more than enough about any and all ancient Egyptian artefacts and was not particularly entertained by archaeologists’ bad guesses when he was stopped in his tracks.</p><p>The temple of Dendur rested in front of him.  Beyond a reflecting pool, illuminated by the glass wall, and otherwise nearly unchanged by time, the magnificent square archway with its elaborate carvings was before him in its entirety.</p><p>He gasped in shock.</p><p>Kaiba smirked.  “Thought you might be interested.”</p><p>Atem didn’t bother with a retort before he raced off to better examine the hieroglyphs.  He looked back when Kaiba didn’t follow.  “Can you still read ancient Egyptian?”</p><p>Kaiba crossed his arms defensively.  “I’ve read more than enough for two lifetimes.”  But still, he dragged his feet to follow suit.</p><p>“See, it only says ‘Pharoah,’ with no name provided, because the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus was ruling Egypt,” Kaiba pointed to one cartouche.  “You weren’t the only nameless Pharoah.”</p><p>"I'm the only one for you," Atem responded quickly, pressing a kiss to Kaiba's lips.</p><p>Kaiba blushed through the rest of the exhibits.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The name of the fic comes from the fact that lotuses decorate the base of the Temple of Dendur.  Citation: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547802<br/>This fic is inspired by my own wonderful and informative trip to the Met.  Learn more about the Temple and the provenance of the Met’s acquisition of it here: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/egyptian-art/temple-of-dendur-50 When it is safe to do so, I highly recommend a visit!!<br/>Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Temple_of_Dendur_MET_DP244278.jpg  This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The photo was made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.  As a public domain work, I can remix the image, as I did by adjusting the colors and adding text, and reproduce it without permission for any purpose.  To see more awesome pictures of the temple, check them out at the links above!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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